I’ve been maintaining personal websites for myself in various forms since the mid 1990′s.  They have always served as a place for me to host things that I, or people I know may find interesting: links, photos, documentation of my travels, my resumé, etc.

I got an e-mail from my aunt a few weeks ago teasing me that my site had gone stale.  I hadn’t realized how stale it had become.  It seems I haven’t changed its’ content in over 2 years.

Why is this? It’s the advent of social media.  Around the time I stopped updating this site, I started using Facebook. It was much quicker to update content here, and to share it with a wider audience. Then I started working at the Ottawa Fringe Festival, and they were holding a photo contest – using Flickr as the platform.  This is when I started to see how the world of online publishing was changing.

So now I’ve made the decision to move my site to its’ next phase, ShawnHooper.ca 2.0.  The new site will mainly act as the host for my blog.  Rather than maintaining a photo gallery, I will host them on sites like Flickr or Picasa.  Videos will be streamed from Youtube, and my microblogged thoughts will be broadcast on Twitter.

The web, for the last several years has become a very social platform, and I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet. I look forward to what the future will bring for the sharing of ideas in this global community we have online.

Welcome to 2.0.

Shawn